Author's Note:

Ah, formatting decisions. This chapter has a bit of text-message conversation in it, so I'm going to stick with what I had back in chapter...10 was it? Italics within quotations. It'd be ideal to have a different font for the texts, but whatever. This is just a fanfic, not something that's going to be printed in a book, haha.

And in case someone points it out, yes, I avoided the "Asian" text emoticons. I'm already Americanizing/Englishifiying this story in the sense that I'm removing all Japanese honorifics and most (if not all) Japanese loan-words. It only makes sense not to use their (versatile and snazzy as they are) smilies. Plus, it's easier for me this way.

Also, this chapter is kind of uneventful, but the next one is more exciting, I promise! :)

Thank you as always for reading and reviewing!

Of course Kahoko couldn't stop thinking about him. In class, she did her best to focus on the lessons, but her mind kept drifting hack to Tsuchiura, to what it was like to kiss him. She'd blush as she remembered the last one they'd shared, in the practice room. It had been . . .

Well, she certainly didn't mind kissing Tsuchiura, and that was the problem. There was something different about it than when she kissed Azuma. She just couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.

And the question kept popping into her mind: Is this wrong?

She didn't know.

Lunch hour came, and Kahoko breathed a sigh of relief. For a short amount of time, at least, she wouldn't have to worry about attempting to pay attention to class. Her phone buzzed. It was a text from Tsuchiura: "Hey. Do you want me to eat lunch with you today, or did you want a little space? It's ok either way."

She sighed and closed her eyes, thinking for a moment before texting back her response. "Is it okay if you don't today? I still have to think about . . . all of this."

"Really? You seemed pretty convinced this morning. ;) Just kidding. It's okay, Kaho. Take your time. I don't want to pressure you."

"Thanks Tsuchiura. I'll let you know after school today, okay?"

"Sounds good. See you then."

Kahoko sighed and slipped her phone back into her bag. That gave her a few more hours to make up her mind.

It didn't take a few hours for Kahoko to decide. Oddly enough, her decision was triggered by a question from Shoko Fuuyumi. "How long has he been away?" she whispered during lunch while Nao and Mio were busy arguing about some celebrity gossip.

Kahoko shrugged. "Almost four weeks, I think. Longer than he said he'd be away, at least."

Shoko smiled. "Good. I think it's good for you to have some time away from him. To think about things and make your own decisions." She blushed. "Not that I'm saying that you didn't choose to be with Yunoki . . . I just—"

Kahoko shook her head. "It's okay, Shoko. It's true, Yunoki didn't really give me much of a choice . . ." And just as those words slipped out of her mouth, Kahoko knew what she was going to do.

This was her chance to decide what she wanted. Maybe she didn't love Tsuchiura, but she didn't love Azuma either, did she?

Kahoko realized that what was different about kissing Tsuchiura was that she was in control of the situation. There had never been any point where she had been afraid. She knew that if she'd panicked or asked Tsuchiura to stop, he would have.

"It's my choice," Kahoko mumbled.

"What was that?" Shoko asked.

Kahoko blushed. "Nothing. I was just thinking out loud. Excuse me a moment."

Kahoko pulled out her phone and started a new text to Tsuchiura. "Okay. Yes. My answer is yes. I'm not sure if I want this to be something serious, I don't know if I'm ready for that, but I'll try. With you."

His response was surprisingly short: "I'll walk you home after school today?"

"Sure."

"See you then, Kaho."

"Okay."

"By the way, you can call me Ryotaro. :)"

Kahoko colored slightly, and hoped that Shoko wouldn't ask her who she was texting and why she was blushing. "Okay, Ryotaro. See you later."

Ryotaro met her at her locker after school, as expected. Kahoko waved goodbye to Nao and Mio and started toward home with him. They talked about trivial things: about their day, about what they'd had for lunch, about any gossip they'd heard. The conversation petered out pretty quickly, and they walked in silence for a minute or two.

"Hey Kaho," Ryotaro finally said, "I'm curious. Have you ever had a boyfriend before?"

Kahoko stopped in her tracks. She immediately thought of Azuma, of the things they'd done together. Is he my boyfriend? Ryotaro thinks I'm available, but should I tell him otherwise? Should I at least warn him about the situation? She shook her head. If Ryotaro is asking about my . . . experience . . . in this field, should I count Azuma? She blushed. How am I supposed to answer this question?

She realized that Ryotaro was looking at her and resumed walking. "Um . . . I . . ."

Ryotaro held up his hands in apology. "Sorry. That was kind of a personal question. You don't have to answer it if you don't want to. I was just curious."

"Okay," she whispered, and the conversation fell silent again.

They arrived at her house and stood outside her gate, in the same place where he'd kissed her the first time.

Ryotaro ran his fingers through his hair. "Well," he said, "the bad news is that I've got practice every day for the rest of the week. We have games on Thursday night and Saturday morning."

Kahoko nodded. "Okay."

"But," Ryotaro said, "Saturday afternoon, if you're free, you could come over. To be honest, I might be pretty beat, but we could just eat something and watch a movie at my place. My parents will be out of town too."

Kahoko realized that she must have made a face at that last sentence, because Tsuchiura turned bright red.

"That's not what I meant!" he amended. "I mean, I was just saying . . . I don't know if you'd feel weird if there were other people home. I wasn't implying that I wanted you to . . . um . . ."

Kahoko burst out laughing at the look of embarrassment on his face. "It's okay," she said. "I'm not upset, I promise."

"Okay, good," Ryotaro sighed. "Are you free?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Just let me know when the game is done and I'll head over."

"Alright, I guess I'll see you then." Ryotaro shoved his hands into his pockets and looked down at ground before meeting Kahoko's eyes again. His smile had vanished. "Kahoko, could I . . ."

Kahoko checked to make sure no neighbors were outside watching before nodding.

Ryotaro leaned down and kissed her very softly. Kahoko reacted automatically, her arms reaching up to pull him closer, to deepen the kiss. It was Ryotaro who broke away first.

"See you Saturday," he whispered.

"Okay," Kahoko responded. She kissed him again, very lightly, then turned and walked into her house.